[passthejoe]

The BSDs in general contain very un-Linux-like utilities for things like networking, managing services and partitioning. It would be a monumental task to rewrite the Linux GUI utilities such as NetworkManager to work with any of the BSDs.

Not that, in some cases, it can't be done. There's an open call out there for someone to port NetworkManager to FreeBSD. I imagine that it would be easier in most of these cases to start from scratch and write a new application that was built from the ground up to handle the configuration of a given BSD.

One thing this lack of Linuxy tools does is "encourage" the BSD user to become very familiar with the text- (and console-) based utilities baked into a given project. In the case of OpenBSD you'll learn how its networking is extremely flexible, advanced and unlike what's in Linux.

It's not that hard to figure out. You have to be eager and willing to read the FAQ and the man pages. The difference is that man pages in OpenBSD are written to be read, not just as an afterthought. The man pages usually include multiple examples and will get you going quicker than you'd think. So read, re-read and know the FAQ. Spend time with the man pages.

I can say for sure that my knowledge not only of OpenBSD but of all Unix/Linux increased tremendously from running OpenBSD and FreeBSD on actual systems and setting up services, configuring networks and solving problems along the way.

Even though you can run many of the same applications in BSD and Linux, the differences in philosophy and direction can be rather startling.

If you really need more GUI support for configuration, right now PC-BSD (derived from FreeBSD) is your best option. It's a great way to get started in BSD if your console skills are lacking. But in OpenBSD and FreeBSD (these are the two projects I'm most familiar with), there is no shortage of information on how to install and maintain them.

All of this being said, the thing I miss the most in BSD isn't NetworkManager or Wicd. It's gParted. The ability to easily modify partitions after the fact is something I'd really like to have in BSD. If you follow the documentation, creating the disk layout in a BSD install is quite clear (though it helps to do a few practice installs along the way). However, these days I tend to use LVM in Linux, and gParted doesn't handle LVM, so I'm back in the console anyway.

And even though I understand the BSD philosophy of sticking close to the text files for configuration, it would be nice to have more GUI utilities for those who want them.